Tuesday
Apr282009
Sign of the times
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 I don't as a rule do No 10 website petitions. However there are exceptions to every rule. THIS one was launched last week (Thursday). Last night it hit 20,000 signatures and already it's the eighth most popular petition on the site. The rate it's going it should be top within days, which would be quite funny.
PS. Glad to see that a petition opposing the introduction of a 50mph limit on all Britain's A-roads has attracted the support of 26k people. I might sign that one too!
Reader Comments (22)
Firstly Simon, as we all know, the number 10 website is about as useful as the proverbial chocolate fireguard. It doesn't matter how many signatures a petition collects, such as one a couple of years ago, which I think was regarding fox-hunting (I might be wrong) which collected over a million signatures, and was still totally ignored.
Add to that the completely irrelevant response from Gordon Brown which each one receives, and it all adds up to a total insult to the people who took the time and the trouble to instigate the petition in the first instance, and the thousands, sometimes million, who signed them.
I recently started a petition myself, which I am sorry to say only attracted a few hundred signatures, but that wasn't the worst of it, the worst was when Gordon Brown answered and gave his verdict on why the government would not be acting on behalf of those who signed. Well this is what is was supposed to be about, but somehow (as usual) our Gordon seems to manage to loose the plot, and rambles on about how we all know this, and we all know that, and how smoking irrefutably kills not only those who smoke, but all those around it, who might breath in that smoke.
What the moron obviously didn't even bother to read, was what the actual petition was about. It was about taking all the harmful chemicals out of tobacco products, thus making them safe to smoke and safe for others around them. If Brown cannot even understand simple logistics like that, then what is the point of sending any other petitions in to him? We all know that he cannot understand them or even bother to read them, so why are we wasting our time?
There is only one petition worth signing, and that is the final petition, where you put your little cross in the box on polling day, and if he doesn't understand that one, then hard luck!
But, before anyone else signs this petition, think about this carefully. Brown won't take any notice of it, but his cabinet might, and where would we all be if they forced him out now? Do you really want to see Harriet Harlady as the new PM? Because that is just what we might end up with, and bear in mind how stupid the general public are, they might even vote Labour in again with a nice new bright shiny leader. There is an old saying which goes, "Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it" (or words to that effect)
Simon, I don't really understand why you should want people to sign a petition asking the Prime Minister to resign, but not one that requests pub smoking rooms.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Smoke-rooms/
I can't say that I like Gordon Brown. I must admit that my opinion of him is steadily tumbling, as for the life of me I fail to see why someone who put in place the financial regulatory mechanisms that have now so signally failed is proposing to stay in office to fix the mess that he helped to create. But, as I understand it, for him to have become PM was simply a case of buggins' turn.
It's not Brown who is the problem. It's the entire Labour party: the MPs who voted for a complete smoking ban, and so set in process the destruction of the English pub, and the communities they served.
In fact, it's not even the Labour party that is the problem. It's the entire political establishment, who don't seem to represent anybody (except possibly themselves), and who have come adrift from the British people they are supposed to serve.
I'm beginning to hope that at the next election minor parties like UKIP and even the BNP will win seats, because thay will at least be representing what real people think, even if I don't happen to agree with them. All the main parties seem to have lost their identity and their principles.
The Labour party used to represent the common working man, and now it seems to speak up for every single minority except the common working man, for whom it now has the most complete contempt, and for whom the smoking ban was the most perfect insult.
The Lib-Dems used to be liberals, for whom the idea of imposing such a restriction should have been anathema, but 95% of Lib Dem MPs voted for the smoking ban, and that is why I'll never vote for them again.
As for the Tories, they used to be the party of the landed gentry and the church and traditional England. They should have opposed the smoking ban in exactly the same way that they opposed the fox hunting ban (and to their credit many of them did). The Tory party now consists of unprincipled whores who will climb on any bandwagon (e.g. global warming) if they think it will win them a few votes.
What was it Cromwell said to parliament before dissolving it? "In the name of God, go!" I don't want to see Gordon Brown gone. I want to see them all gone. Every single last one of them. And replaced by people whose first concern is the British people, not their own pockets, or bureaucratic dinosaurs like the EU.
The same thought occurred to me, Idlex, about the Smoke Rooms petition. In fact for a mad moment I wondered whether Simon was talking about that document. Labour, new or old, is no longer what it says on its label. I weep for those loyal grassroots campaigners duped by its democratic legend. The nation seems to be in a trance while a new ruling class advances on it from its habitats in Westminster, Whitehall, the Quangos, the Universities, Local Government, fashionable charities and the media. And that new ruling class is puffed up with a sense of righteousness which can disdain, even despise, the sadness and loneliness of those whose Bingo halls and pubs are closed for the phantom 'safety' of those who would never have visited them anyway.
I heartily endorse Peter Thurgood and idlex. Don't waste time on any more No.10 petitions and their eventual fatuous responses. Gordon Brown should stay where he is and continue to dig the NuLabour grave. Let's not encourage the red herring of installing a new Labour leader.
Of course all three main parties are controlled hand and foot by the EU, with nothing to choose between them. But I suggest we stop pussyfooting around and lumping together UKIP and the racist BNP as alternatives. I note with alarm that the BNP are obviously getting massive funding from somewhere - just look at their expensive website and note how they were able to pay young people to canvass for them in the recent Sevenoaks by-election. Note how the LibDems didn't even field a candidate.
I suspect that the EU are indirectly funding the BNP so that the fourth largest party, UKIP, will have their vote split. UKIP are the greatest danger to the EU. For my own small part, I am standing as a UKIP candidate in our local Kent County Council elections. We have six wards in my own district and we have managed to field a UKIP candidate in each of these wards. We fund ourselves from our own pockets and ours are the unpaid feet that distribute our UKIP leaflets.
Firstly good luck Margot, it is good to see some conviction politics. My second point is that ZanuLabour over the last year or two have been an 3m1gm4. Normally when parties plummet in the polls they have an acute ear to public opinion and many current policies get canned or amended. The "1984 State" has not been reeled in, the smoking ban is yet not on the agenda, tax and spend is still rife.
Is it a scorched earth policy, making life as difficult for the Tories as possible? Or is Gordon Brown in his bunker so arrogant that he refuses to yield or compromise? I think it maybe the two and no matter how many petitions we diligently sign, may not make a scrap of difference.
My instinct and sources, some are direct contact with the Labour Party is that at grass roots level that the game is up and are worried about their careers. A 9,000 majority looks a marginal seat. A coup d'etat against Brown should not be ruled out and a furious 6 months of unpicking Labour policies could happen. Let us keep the pressure up on them as I only hope they will include the smoking ban.
Dave - if a furious 6 months of unpicking labour policy takes place (which I really doubt, but I suppose we can live in hope), I would only accept action and the ban amended/repealed.
I would not take their word for it as I don't believe a word that they utter. Why should I? The lies that have been endorsed by their party and spread over the media to denormalise me and millions of others will never be forgotten.
James Moyies of UKIP has predicted a woman prime minister by Christmas.
By the way, I do not want to see a new Labour PM. I want to see the present bumbling idiot who is the figurehead of the present government lead his party to utter defeat. I am looking forward to the next general election night like I used to look forward to Christmas as a kid. I have already sent a letter to santa, for my main present I want to see Gordon Brown loose his seat.
And his head, Timbone. Bring back Traitor's Gate, I say.
I've signed the petition in the confidence that Gordon will just not go but will cling stubbornly to power dragging Labour and the country to its knees until the GE and it gives me satisfaction to express my rage.
On GE night, I intend to have a party and stay up to watch the results. I had thought of champagne to cheer with every seat that Labour loses but, in these times of austerity and because I have little faith in the Tores, I'll make do with some sparkling wine...
James Moyies of UKIP has predicted a woman prime minister by Christmas.
Prime Nanny? Bring it on. I hope it's Hazel Blears. I can't stand her. She's the personification of smugness. But any of them would do.
But I think that Gord will manage to hang on to the bitter end. It was, after all, his turn to be Prime Minister, and he fought like mad for years to lever Tony Blair out of office. Very successfully too.
It always struck me as symbolic of the transition from Blair to Brown that the smoking ban came into effect on the same day that Brown became PM. By then, Blair had been fatally weakened. By the Iraq war. I often wonder whether Blair would have brought in the smoking ban if he'd not lost his power and influence. I've read that he had a lot of doubts about a total ban. But then, when it came to it, he voted for it. As did Gord. And Deborah Arnott and ASH didn't know which way Gord was going to jump.
Does it matter? It's all history now. They decided to destroy the institution that was the English pub, and to destroy with it the tolerant society that had characterised England. They set out to destroy an entire culture. And for this they will never be forgiven.
Whether you sign the petition to force Gordon Brown out of office or not, will not make any difference, for New Labour is on course to win the next general election.
I have been shown a document this morning marked Highly Confidential and dated 8th June 2008. Reading this document was like reading something from a Sci-Fi story. George Orwell's 1984 has nothing on this.
The document was from the office of a very important government minister, and I have no reason to disbelieve it. It is quite a long document and I can't remember it word for word, but the gist of it goes along the lines that NHS dentists are to implant tiny micro-chips into patient's mouths at the same time as carrying out their normal dental work.
The micro-chips were at first thought up as a means of secret surveillance, and have been in use for some time prior to that. But now the government have come up with the idea of using an advanced chip with brain-washing facilities, first thought up during the Korean war during the 1950s. The chip, when programmed correctly, causes the subject to act and think exactly as the program dictates.
Bear in mind this document was dated nearly a year ago! How far have they advanced with this and what is the end outcome? I think we all know the answer to that, and unless stopped now, we are going to have New Labour forever.
Cral, I look forward to seeing the expose of this dastardly deed in the MSM - after all you mustn't share it just with us!
You will be laughing on the other side of your face Joyce when the general election arrives and you see this is true.
Why do you think I put it here rather than anywhere else? Because I thought the people on here had more resources to deal with it, rather than yet another big expose.
I can assue you, and everyone else, this is not a joke.
I don't know about tooth-chips, but they are manufactured to shove in your arm.
Look:
http://www.verichipcorp.com/content/company/rfidtags
I also saw a report last year that Motorola had around 7 million RFID chips ready to ship. If they kept up their manufacturing pace that will be a hundred million by now.
They ain't makin' 'em for fun Joyce.
You watch. People will queue up for them. Smiling from ear to ear.
Scary, scary times.
"NHS dentists are to implant tiny micro-chips into patient's mouths at the same time as carrying out their normal dental work.
The chip, when programmed correctly, causes the subject to act and think exactly as the program dictates." Cral.
Now let's have a look at this ridiculous theory. It's almost as ridiculous as someone predicting 5 years ago that smoking would be banned from all public places including pubs and clubs.
So, entering into the realms of fantasy, it would complete a little jigsaw I've had in my mind throughout 2008 when Gordon Brown started slipping in the information, from time to time, that our benign government would be introducing a new fast Broadband. This would be available to everyone, so helping hard working families, of course. To me, there's plenty of fast Broadband already available. So this immediately smacked of introducing Big Brother right there into your home. But, how to make it effective? People don't normally sit with their computer screens on all day long. Although, [I digress], come to think of it, if they live in a high rise flat and are suddenly unemployed, perhaps they do?
Anyway, anyway, to be really effective there would have to be subliminal messages and a receptor for them in the human brain.
I'm a great watcher of body language. During Darling's budget speech, he mentioned said Broadband, yet again. I looked at Brown. His entire body was tense with the effort of keeping his face looking non-committal. I glanced at his side-kick, Jacqui Smith. She hadn't particularly looked at Brown during the speech. Now her head was turned and she was anxiously looking directly at his face.
Anyone been to the dentist recently?
Cral - forgive my scepticism: firstly, we've had a few 'new' people posting facetiously recently and, secondly, if your post was really written seriously, although I increasingly feel that I'm living in Wonderland, a brainwashing microchip, secretly implanted on the orders of a lunatic government in order to retain power, seemed to me to slip into the realms of paranoia. I'm also extremely ill-informed about technology.
Having used Colin's link and found that such chips exist, I googled 'RFID chips' and an article on chips in humans confirmed that back in 2004 the FDA approved their use. The technologists, of course, insist that they'd be used positively (to store medical data, for example). As I'm writing this I'm dimly remembering that a couple of years ago there was some talk about chipping alzheimers sufferers in the UK ( to keep track of them for their safety, of course). It dropped off the news and I haven't heard anything more.
Colin suggested that people would be queuing up for them and I thought, nonsense, who in their right mind...? The article that I mentioned above, however, reports that clubbers in Spain are happily ordering drinks at the bar via an implanted chip!!!!
I still, though, have problems with your scenario. Firstly, the government would have to secure the buy-in of dentists and they, in turn, would have to persuade their patients that an implant would be A Good Thing. Given that the public at large is becoming increasingly concerned about the abuse of technology by an authoritarian government and increasingly disillusioned with New Labour, would any pretext be compelling enough? The alternative is that dentists are co-erced into microchipping without their patients' consent. Secondly, these chips store data and appear to require a reading device (same as a barcode). They aren't transmitters, so how could they send the appropriate messages? Thirdly, although HMG is incredibly incompetent and should probably not be left in charge of running a jumble sale, let alone a country, given that New Labour's shambolic dental reform policy has resulted in a large percentage of the population unable to find an NHS dentist, and that those who have one make infrequent/irregular visits, wouldn't it occur to them that this might not be the best way to secure victory in an election scheduled for a year's time?
I'm still more frightened by the reality that during the reign of horror of New Labour's power, they've turned primary and secondary education into indoctrination and that this is continued into universities that have been dumbed down and can no longer be said to uphold and promote rigorous standards of intellectual activity. They've produced a generation of tomorrow's decision-makers who are probably capable of making decision only on the most facile basis.
Joyce.
Many of the points you raised occurred to me too. If it is a hoax, I can live with that!
However, Colin's contribution gives the possibility a bit of credence. I, too, wondered how they could get the NHS dentists to buy into it. One way would be to issue it free to dentists as a "strengthener" of fillings. So cutting down the cost burden to the NHS.
That, should it exist, such a valuable piece of hi-tech equipment would be used solely to ensure that people voted Nu-Labour, really is a bit farfetched. Not everyone who votes will visit the dentist between now and the next GE, [if there ever is one.] I prefer my own theory that the much mentioned new fast broadband "available to everyone" could be linked directly to such an implant.
I doubt if Gordon Brown is particularly bothered about making it through to the next GE and the probable fate of Nu-Labour. He has been a very good EU puppet and his future is assured. I see the whole charade at Westminster as a merry dance to the tune of the EU. All three main party leaders are obeying their masters and going through the motions to divert the attention of the general UK population. They need to make us continue to believe that we have democratic self government. This is all that is needed until the Lisbon Treaty is ratified and we are completely governed by the EU with no turns back. .
I also believe that Brown is under orders to create the “Rage Riots” he has prepared for during the summer months. If he can create a state of Martial Law in the U.K., then he has, indeed, done his job well for the EU.
Incidentally, the term “Rage Riots” is Gordon Brown’s own.
I am pleased to see that some on here are beginning to take what I said seriously, but I didn't put this on here just to get a degree of recognition.
I put it on here in a plea for help. I/we desperately need someone to investigate this and bring it out into the open before it is too late.
Does anyone know who we can approach with this, someone that will help?
I've been to the dentist recently Margot, If the above was true, I'd have a crush on Gordon Brown, I'd have given up smoking, drinking, eating "unhealthly" food and I'd be seriously thinking of campaigning for Labour at the next election.
Still some disbelievers? Look here
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6211202.ece
"Still some disbelievers? Look here."
Well done for a brilliant bit of research, Cral. Of particular interest is the notion that undetected brain scanning can take place at airports, etc. The entire article is well researched and cannot be ignored.
You can be certain that other contributors to this blog will take up and further the theory. Meanwhile, of course, what we need are a few friendly dentists who will stand by in the future and see what "offers" are made to them by the NHS.